The Duke of York has answered questions about his links to Jeffrey Epstein for the first time, in a BBC interview. He spoke to BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in an interview recorded at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

Maitlis said it was a “no holds barred interview”, which will be broadcast on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Saturday. The duke faces serious claims over his ties to the 66-year-old US financier, who took his own life while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

In 2015, Prince Andrew was named in court papers as part of a US civil case against Epstein. One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts – now Virginia Giuffre – said she was forced to have sex with the duke three times between 1999 and 2002, in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.

At the time she was under-age according to Florida state’s law.(BBC)…[+]